


Alcatraz 3: Revolution

by torturingtaylor (itzaimster)



Series: New Alcatraz [3]
Category: Hanson
Genre: F/M, Imprisonment, Post-War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2018-04-10 19:44:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 39
Words: 20,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4405007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itzaimster/pseuds/torturingtaylor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taylor and Natalie take the fight to Houston.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 2016

“So here we are,” Zac looked around, backpack slung over his shoulder.  
“Here we are,” Taylor agreed.  
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll deploy us together,” Isaac shrugged.  
Taylor winced.  
“I’m pretty sure they specifically try not to,” Zac reasoned, “distractions and all that.”  
“One of us might meet up with Mac though,” Taylor pointed out, “seeing as he made it out of LA in time. Or Joe maybe, if we catch up with his deployment.”  
They turned to look over their shoulders as a call went over the loudspeaker. It was soon followed by guards appointing members of the gathering to their transport.  
“I can’t believe this is it,” Isaac looked worried.  
“It’s not,” Zac insisted.  
“We’ll be back in no time,” Taylor agreed, “they’ll have tactics, we just need to finish what the army started.”  
“And stay alive in the process,” Zac mused, “can’t be too hard.”  
“I vote when we get back home, we meet up at 3CG and just party the night away. Just the five of us,” Taylor looked between them.  
“I’m sure Kate would love that,” Zac smirked.  
“We have the rest of our lives to spend with our women,” Taylor returned the look, “but we’ll no doubt have stories we can’t share with them. I say we get it all out in one night, have one hell of a hangover, and then move on with whatever America has left for us.”  
“I’m down,” Isaac shrugged.  
“I’m just gonna see what happens I think,” Zac took a step back as a guard approached.  
“Do you each have your sign-ins?” he was gruff.  
Zac and Taylor both handed their cards over as Isaac struggled to get his lanyard over his head.  
“Door three,” he handed Zac’s card back before looking at Taylor’s, “and gate five. Lucky, someone’s getting airborne.”  
“There goes that idea,” Zac returned the card to his neck.  
“Door two,” the guard instructed Isaac before moving on.  
“I wonder what he means by airborne,” Taylor watched after him.  
“Yeah, it’s not as if you know how to fly a plane,” Zac held back a chuckle as he stepped forward for a hug.  
Taylor embraced him, before pulling Isaac in as well.   
“Okay guys no excuses,” he insisted, “we meet back at 3CG as soon as we land in Tulsa. Agreed?”  
“Agreed,” his brothers pull back.  
“And we’ll find Joe and Mac,” Zac looked between them before taking a step back.  
“Take care,” Isaac gave Taylor one last glance before following Zac toward the inner doors.  
Taylor stood still to watch them disappear into the crowd. He felt as though he’d missed a chance to tell them he loved them, but he knew that they knew it already.   
He just hated that he wouldn’t know anything of what was happening to them until it was over.  
When he couldn’t see them any longer he turned to find the fifth gate. There weren’t many people headed in his direction – most going to the doors – and when he made it out into the daylight he soon found why.  
His transport was via helicopter.


	2. 2016

“Can’t believe it’s almost over!”  
“Almost,” Taylor mused, “it’s certainly not over yet.”  
“It might as well be. Troops are pulling out, they’ll be gone in a matter of days, and we can finally go home!”  
“I don’t think I ever asked you where ‘home’ was,” Taylor realised.  
“Minneapolis,” his comrade replied, chewing on his pen, “you?”  
“Tulsa, Oklahoma,” he nodded to himself, “got a wife-and-five to get back to.”  
“Lucky you pulled this straw then. They were less likely to lose you than if you were on the ground.”  
Taylor kept nodding, looking to the screen sullenly.  
“Did I say something wrong?”  
“No,” Taylor assured, “I just got word yesterday that my youngest brother didn’t make it back from Virginia.”  
“Virginia? The Williamsburg Defence League?”  
“Yeah that one.”  
“My man, if he was a part of that group then he died a hero,” his comrade attempted to reassure, “they’re the reason we still even have some of that coastline left.”  
“Small consolation when I need to work out how to tell the family,” Taylor gave him a glance before sitting up in his seat.  
“Tell them he was a hero. He’s probably got a medal coming his way.”  
“I doubt we’re getting anything like that this time around,” Taylor only half paid attention, now focused on the target his drone was approaching.  
He’d been in charge of two separate drones working the East coast. One of them was already headed back to base while the other kept an eye on scattered rescue missions along the Georgia/South Carolina coastline. It was now approaching a small base just out of Charleston which had been used as an infirmary for survivors found in the area. Only a few soldiers remained in the area, there to drop off supplies and aid the medical workers onsite.  
As it was approaching nightfall he switched his cameras to heat-seeking vision just as they heard heavy boot steps in the hall.  
“Here comes trouble,” his comrade muttered as Taylor turned to the door.  
When they recognised that it was their commander, suddenly everyone in the room sat up straight.  
“At ease, gentlemen. You won’t have to play the game for much longer.”  
All the men had been appreciative at the Colonel’s approach to their training, well aware that just the year before everyone in the room had simply been a civilian. He was harsh at times, but only when he had to be to get the job done. But otherwise he spoke to them on a personable level that often showed the effects the loss of his previous troop had had on him.  
“I’ll keep it short,” he began in form, “the Jacksonville offensive pulled back earlier this afternoon and those boys will be heading home tomorrow. There isn’t much left of the town but it’s more than it would have been without them. Well done Franklin. The official list of casualty will be updated in the morning and all personnel will have access to that before going home if they so wish. It will be posted to the public by the end of the week without the deployment information.”  
Taylor’s teeth clenched, knowing Mackenzie’s name would be on that list. He had to get home first.  
“That’s it for prelim. Now, who’s in charge of Charleston surveillance?”  
“I am Sir,” Taylor raised a hand.


	3. 2016

“Set drones to autopilot and clear the room,” the Colonel ordered.  
Taylor watched them go, worriedly. This was going to be serious.  
The Colonel checked his watch before making his way over, not saying a word until the door closed behind them.  
“Pull up these co-ordinates,” he ordered, placing a slip of paper on the console.  
“I’m already there,” Taylor frowned when he recognised them, “they’re the last guys on the ground. But it’s a rescue op-“  
“This isn’t in relation to a relief mission,” the Colonel corrected, “do you have eyes on the building?”  
Taylor indicated the screen where he’d been watching the soldiers and civilians going in and out. The Colonel watched the screen for a moment with what Taylor recognised as dead eyes.  
Something that never meant anything good.  
“What is it?” Taylor was apprehensive.  
“You’re ordered to fire on the target at 0620,” the Colonel was firm.  
“Target? What?” Taylor’s brow furrowed, confused, “it’s a relief center, why would we-“  
“We have received intel that Kim Yong Seung himself is within the vicinity,” the Colonel revealed, making Taylor’s eyes widen, “this may be the strike that ends all future wars with the country.”  
Taylor stared at the screen. This was huge. This would be the modern day equivalent of taking down Bin Laden.  
“He is posing as a civilian in order to gain access to camps and learn intel,” the Colonel stepped back, “it is the reason we lost Savannah. We will not lose any more fronts.”  
“No Sir,” Taylor agreed, “but we have people in there. Not just civilians, but soldiers… can’t we get word to them and have them-“  
“It’s too late,” the Colonel insisted, “he is already there. The order is to strike in three minutes.”  
“But we need to warn them!” Taylor insisted.  
“If we send warning, Kim will begin the attack,” the Colonel scorned, “we will lose not only Charleston but the entire East Coast. If you defy the order, you will have that on your head.”  
Taylor grit his teeth, knowing the Colonel was right. But it wasn’t a call he wanted to make. A few lives to save a thousand, sure, but did he have to be the one to take them?  
“Two minutes,” the Colonel warned.  
“Is there no other way?” Taylor didn’t want to sound desperate but knew that he did, “there has to be a way to save these people. Haven’t we lost enough?”  
“One minute,” the Colonel’s back stiffened, as if he were preparing to take over if Taylor were incompetent.  
Taylor wheeled his chair forward and focused on the screens. The exact co-ordinates were for the building he’d originally focused on.   
With a gulp he tried to focus, sending the drone into position. It had almost been on top of them to begin with so it would be well within the parameters in time. He let his finger fall to the switch and closed his eyes.  
It was just like any other drill. He had to treat it like another day at the office. He had to not think about who was down there… be they friend or foe.  
“Fire.”  
His finger hit the switch and his eyes opened in time to see the blast.  
In seconds the building was flat.


	4. 2016

“Hey congrats!” the man on the console next to Taylor’s gave him a high five.  
“Thanks,” Taylor was smiling, “but just following orders.”  
“Everyone’s following orders,” he shrugged, “not everyone’s taking down the fucking enemy hierarchy.”  
Taylor fell back into his seat, swaying it side to side.  
“I don’t know,” he was sullen, “just doesn’t feel as good as I imagined it would, you know?”  
“Survivors’ guilt,” another fill-in sat to his left, “it’s a real thing you know. We’re probably all gonna have it.”  
“I guess so,” Taylor’s eyes fell, still trying not to think about it.  
“Anyway, not long to go now! Time to get home and get laid!”  
Taylor smirked at that, looking around at the five others in the circular room. He could feel the excitement radiating from them now that they were so close to being home. Just a few more days to go.  
It was going to be odd without Mackenzie, but he hoped his brothers remembered their pact.  
They all looked up as the Colonel once again entered the room. In his hand an iPad, of which he was more focussed on than them.  
“At ease,” he assured, “minor formality this morning. You all have your missions.”  
He looked over his glasses in Taylor’s direction.  
“Except you, Hanson. Well done for yesterday.”  
His comrade smirked as the Colonel went back to his iPad.  
“Casualty list has been posted for personnel only. I’ll remind you not to speak to anyone outside of this room until it has been posted to the public on Saturday. It is up to the individual whether or not you wish to proceed, but if so… enter code 6506 into your diallers and you will gain access.”  
“Thank you Sir,” one of the men insisted, which the Colonel ignored.  
“Once all drones have returned to base tomorrow morning we will start closing up from this end. We’ll have you boys on your way home by the afternoon.”  
Small cheers before an apprehensive silence. The Colonel looked down the list he obviously had before tucking the screen under his arm and giving them a nod.  
“That will be all,” he turned to leave.  
Before he was even gone half the men had spun to their screens to type in the code. Taylor turned slowly, knowing that he was going to see Mackenzie’s name and it giving him pause.  
“You okay?” his comrade asked, not having turned to his own console.  
“Yeah,” Taylor assured, “I just know I’m not gonna like what I see.”  
“That’s kinda the point,” he mused.  
“I guess so.”  
His fingers tapped the keys gently so they wouldn’t enter any numbers, before he held his breath a few seconds and finally punched them in. Names soon filled his screen.  
They were sorted alphabetically by surname, included both first and second names (some had a third initial), their hometown, and the mission title where they were either hurt or killed.  
He had to pause just seeing how many names were in the AA-AB categories. They’d known the losses were great, but seeing them listed like this really drove it home.  
Taking another deep breath, he scrolled downward.


	5. 2016

“Oh no,” Taylor stopped to cover his mouth.  
“Who is it?” his comrade asked tentatively, leaning forward a little.  
“One of my brothers,” Taylor sat back in his seat, “actually my brother-in-law. My wife’s brother. He was injured in Astoria.”  
“Ouch.”  
“It looks like he got out before the bombs dropped,” Taylor knew he wouldn’t be able to find out more until he made it home, but at least he could let Natalie know.  
“He’s a lucky one then.”  
Taylor didn’t respond to that, just stared at the name on the screen. There were a few different Matthew Bryant listings, but Taylor recognised the hometown. It had to be him.  
Running his fingers through his hair he scrolled down. The last thing he wanted to see was a Hanson I or Hanson Z with injury. Or so he thought until he got to the HA’s.  
There it was in bold lettering.

HANSON – CLARKE ISAAC – Tulsa, Oklahoma – Atlantic City Offense – FATALITY

Taylor could have thrown up. He covered his face before his eyes could tear up, hoping he’d imagined it. But when he pulled his hands away the name was still there.  
“Another one?”  
Taylor barely heard him, but he shook his head. He pointed to the screen where the name sat.  
“My older brother,” he barely got out before having to turn away.  
It had been the wrong idea. Two of the men on the other side of the room were in tears already.  
He took a few deep breaths as he tried not to focus on them, before turning back to the screen. He had three more names to check on. He didn’t want to see any more on the list. Other than Mac’s.

HANSON – JOSHUA MACKENZIE – Los Angeles, California – Williamsburg Defence League – FATALITY

He’d known it was there, but it didn’t seem to hurt any less. He kept scrolling.

HANSON – ZACHARY WALKER – Tulsa, Oklahoma – Charleston Recovery Project – FATALITY

“What…” Taylor frowned, turning to the door to see if the Colonel was still there.  
He wasn’t.  
“What is it?”  
“The Charleston Recovery Project,” Taylor pointed to the screen, “what was that?”  
“Are you kidding?” his friend asked, “that was your shining moment! Your Bin Laden!”  
Taylor kicked the chair out from beneath himself and stood, backing away from the console.   
It can’t have been right. They had to have misprinted. Maybe something got confused somewhere with how they were brothers and how Taylor had ended the mission and… maybe Zac was hurt somewhere? His name had been written specifically up for the list, was he hurt somewhere with no help because someone had gotten the name wrong?  
He jumped when his friend took him by the shoulder.  
“What happened? What’s wrong?” he was demanding.  
But Taylor could barely see him through the fog. His friend waited until his eyes focused before taking a cautious step back.  
Taylor put his hand to his mouth, feeling like he was going to vomit.  
“I think I killed my brother.”


	6. 2016

Taylor made his way through the airport in silence and with his head down. He’d been sent home early – the day he’d found out – and arrived back in Tulsa just before sundown. He hadn’t told anyone he was coming home.  
He didn’t want anyone to know.  
He found his way to the taxi rank and got into the backseat, barely glancing in the driver’s direction as he set his backpack on the seat beside him.  
“Where to?” she asked cheerfully.  
He wondered how she could possibly be so happy, before remembering the list hadn’t been posted yet. That had to be why.  
“North Main Street, 209,” he responded softly before turning his gaze to out the window.  
He was silent the entire drive. The sun still hadn’t set by the time they pulled into the street, but it was eerily deserted. People had more important things to do than earn a living in this part of town.  
He thanked the driver, paid, and stepped out with his backpack. He waited until she’d driven away before looking up at the building.  
He felt like burning it to the ground then and there.  
Everything they’d ever worked for, everything they’d built together – none of it mattered anymore. It wasn’t going to go any further. The ideas they’d planned to return to were now redundant.  
He stepped onto the sidewalk and walked toward the door as the sky finally started to darken. He’d made a promise. A pact, even. He’d have a drink for each of them and hopefully pass out and maybe never wake up again…  
He paused as he stared at the door lock. He didn’t have a key. He fleetingly remembered that it was in the bottom of Zac’s backpack. A bag that most likely no longer even existed.  
He turned his back to the door and slid to the ground. He felt like he couldn’t even honour them.  
They’d tried to tell him that this was the start of a new life. That everyone had to take what had happened and move on eventually. A period of grief was essential, but one day life would continue. He didn’t feel that way at all. He felt like this was the start of death.  
He pulled his backpack closer and dug around in it for his cell phone. He hadn’t turned it on since arriving at his base. They’d been strict on the use of technology due to many servers being hacked and hadn’t risked anything even for the men to contact their families. So he wasn’t surprised when there was over a hundred missed calls and messages – mostly from Natalie, and mostly speaking to herself in the hopes her husband would come home alive.  
He vaguely wondered how many similar messages would be on his brothers’ phones.  
He searched through his contacts, dialled, and put the phone to his ear.  
“Taylor?” the answer was almost instant.  
“Hey… Dad,” he knew his voice was shaky, “how are you?”  
“’How are you?’ We’ve been worried sick! Where are you? Why call now? Are you home?”  
“Dad please,” Taylor cringed, holding his head as if he’d only just recognised the headache he was sporting, “one thing at a time. Yes, I’m home. Sort of. I’m at 3CG. They sent me home early.”  
“You’re at the studio? Does Natalie know?”  
“She doesn’t,” Taylor admitted, looking back down the street, “I called you first. But… maybe I shouldn’t have.”  
“Why? Taylor, what’s going on?”  
“I think I need to talk to Kate,” he bit his lip.


	7. 2020

Taylor backed away from the door.  
“What are you doing here?” Natalie demanded.  
“Well I’m not here for you,” Kate pointed out, “I heard there was a break out in Chicago. Then suddenly the great Clara and John duo can’t be found. I put two and two together and here I am. It probably wasn’t the best idea to bring him here you know, it’s very predictable.”  
“Anyone who knows us and knows where we are would not give Taylor away,” Nikki’s voice came from the back of the room.  
Kate’s eyes shot to her, before settling on Taylor again.  
“So far so good, right?” she raised a brow.  
“Why are you here?” Natalie repeated, getting more and more anxious, “we’re in the middle of an evacuation.”  
“So I see,” Kate looked over her shoulder, “and yet he’s still here.”  
“Something came up,” Taylor’s eyes darted.  
“So you _can_ talk?”  
Natalie gave her a shove in the shoulder, causing Kate to fall back onto the porch. She followed her outside where she quickly lay eyes on Kate’s three children talking to Penny and River by the cars. Seeing them there made her slightly more cautious.  
“Answer me,” she demanded.  
“Look,” Kate glanced toward the door, “believe it or not, I came to help.”  
“It’s a little late for that,” Natalie scorned, “we need to leave, and you’re in our way.”  
Taylor looked back at Nikki when he heard her move. She was walking toward the door.  
“She has a point,” she said as she passed him, “we need to move. See that light in the distance?”  
Taylor looked through the door to where she was pointing. It was a helicopter, though a while away.  
“Those are the assholes that want to take you back, got it?”  
“I got it,” he insisted before she took her bags out to the car.  
He flinched back when Everett followed, not expecting his sudden appearance.  
“If you want to fight to keep him, the key word is fight,” Kate turned to follow Nikki down the steps.  
“We don’t have time for this!”  
“Follow me,” Kate gave her a glance as she headed to the back of her car.  
Natalie looked toward where River, Penny, Shepherd, Abraham and Junia were now watching in silence. She nodded to River who came over to take the bag she’d been struggling with.  
“Put this in the car and help your Dad. Get us ready to go,” she ordered.  
He did as asked as she followed Kate down to the car. Kate had paused at the back door to wait.  
“What are you talking about?” Natalie gave in.  
“Look, I might not be on the ‘saving Taylor’ train,” Kate reasoned, “but that doesn’t mean I think Zac wouldn’t be.”  
Natalie couldn’t help but roll her eyes.  
“And I know that he, like the kids… or two of them anyway, would want to help. So this is his contribution.”  
Kate opened the back and Natalie froze.  
“You can’t be serious.”


	8. 2020

“As it turns out? Deadly,” Kate mused.  
“We can’t use these,” Natalie insisted as Nikki joined her side.  
“Wow,” she whispered in turn.  
“Like I said, if you want to fight?” Kate shrugged, “there’s going to come a time where you have to actually fight.”  
“How did you even get these here? Were you not stopped at all?” Nikki was confused.  
“No,” Taylor insisted from behind, making them all jump with his unexpected presence, “no guns, no crossbows, no weapons. Those women out there may be jaded and we may not agree with anything they’re doing, but they do not deserve to die for it.”  
Kate visibly struggled to hold back a comment at that.  
“She might have a point Tay,” Nikki tried to reason, “I don’t agree with it either, but if it came down to them or you?”  
Natalie turned and took hold of his shirt.  
“If we’re stopped and the arresting officer happens to be friendly with an officer who raped you, what makes you think they won’t find any excuse to kill us there on the spot?”  
“They’re going to have the perfect excuse if we have these in the car!” Taylor scorned.  
“You want to go into the bull ring naked, is that it?” she scoffed.  
“That’s not it,” Taylor assured, “but don’t forget we have Penny and River in the car with us.”  
“Taylor you have no idea what they’ve already seen since you’ve been gone,” Natalie muttered.  
Taylor fell silent at that, now wondering what had even been going on here since he’d left. The fact he hadn’t even seen a news broadcast in near on two years wasn’t helping either.  
“We need some kind of insurance,” Natalie stepped toward the car and pulled out a handgun.  
“I don’t have much in the way of ammo,” Kate warned her.  
“We shouldn’t need much,” Natalie assured.  
Taylor just shook his head and walked away. He didn’t want any part of it.  
“Nat, the helicopter’s getting close,” Nikki warned, indicating the search light still off in the distance.  
“By the time it gets near here we should be gone,” Natalie wasn’t too worried, “it’d be worse if it wasn’t coming from the East.”  
“We don’t know how many are on the road West, or North for that matter,” Nikki pointed out.  
“She’s right, you should go,” Kate closed the back door before Natalie could take anything else, “we can meet up with you later. Where are you headed?”  
“Atlanta,” she replied.  
“Chicago,” Nikki added.  
“Do you need help loading?” Kate offered.  
“I just have a few more things, the boys have it,” Nikki assured as she heard Everett’s cell phone ring, “Everett! You need to leave that here!”  
“Sorry!” he called back from the car, but quickly answering it nonetheless.  
“You should go. Get out of here in case they close in,” Natalie told Kate.  
“Once I make sure you’re out,” she counter-offered.  
“Mom?!” Everett called back as he made his way over, “you’re gonna want to hear this!”  
“Sorry,” Nikki looked between the women as she took the call.  
“Shep!” Kate called, “help your cousins load Aunt Nikki’s car please!”  
“Jen?” Natalie looked up as Nikki frowned, “Jen, what’s wrong?!”


	9. 2020

“I didn’t know who else to call,” Jennifer wiped her eyes as she sat with the car door open, “I mean I wasn’t sure if this number was even still working but it was the only one I could remember and we didn’t bring any old cells with us-“  
“Jenny calm down. What’s happening?”  
She took a shaky breath as she looked to the sky. The helicopter had long moved on and the car had been left stranded on the dark highway.  
“They took Ezra,” she choked out, failing to hold back further tears.  
The million questions from Nikki that followed didn’t help.   
“Willa and Viggo are fine,” she cut in, figuring it was the most important thing, “they didn’t see them, but we’re stuck here and I’m not entirely sure where we are.”  
“Which way did you go?”  
“The I-10, we got past Van Horn,” Jennifer sniffled a little, “I’m not sure how far, maybe twenty minutes past it?”  
“How long have you been there?”  
“Not long, I just wanted to make sure the kids were okay.”  
“We’ll send someone after you. Just stay where you are!”  
“That won’t be a problem,” she let out a deflated chuckle, “the car won’t go.”  
There was a moment of silence at the other end as Nikki processed.  
“Just call this number if anything else comes up,” she insisted, “be careful.”  
“We will,” Jennifer promised before reluctantly ending the call herself.  
“Are they coming?” Viggo was leaning over the seat behind her.  
“Yeah, they’re sending someone. We’ll be okay,” Jennifer assured.  
“What about Ezra?” Willa asked, “where’s he going?”  
“I don’t know honey,” Jennifer tried to keep her voice steady, “but we’ll find out. We just need to wait for someone to come.”  
“Is he going to jail?” Viggo asked.  
“Maybe,” she didn’t want to think about it.  
“For how long?” Willa asked.  
“I don’t know!” Jennifer immediately felt bad for raising her voice, “until we find him I guess. They got your Dad out, they can get him out too.”  
Viggo sat back in his seat and folded his arms as Willa chewed on her lip. The car sat in silence for a time without even the radio to distract them. Jennifer saw no point in keeping it running if they had to save the power, and really they just needed to change the tire.  
But she didn’t know how to, and she didn’t want to try doing it and end up hurting herself only to leave Ezra’s siblings defenceless.  
She suddenly felt useless and it only served to upset her more.


	10. 2020

“Jenny is stuck on the I-10 just past Van Horn, someone needs to go get her and the kids,” Nikki rushed to say once she handed the phone back to Everett.  
“Where’s Ezra?” Natalie demanded, “he wouldn’t just…“  
An awkward moment of silence passed as Nikki locked eyes with her. Natalie soon broke out of it and walked straight toward her car.  
“Where are you going?” Nikki demanded.  
“Where do you think?!”  
“Wait!” she dropped her bag and ran after her, taking her by the shoulder, “you know better than anyone that this could be a setup. You are the _last_ person we should send out there.”  
“We’re heading in the same direction anyway,” she scorned.  
“Not anymore you’re not.”  
“Take another route,” Everett suggested, “time difference will only be about an hour.”  
“I’ll send Walker and Di,” Nikki suggested.  
“No. They need to go with Jess. Or she’s going to do something stupid and get Joe caught,” Natalie shook her head.  
“Like you’re about to do?” Nikki pointed out, “and get Taylor caught?”  
Taylor gave Kate an awkward glance before making his way over.  
“I can’t just leave Viggo and Willa,” Natalie was obviously upset.  
“And you won’t. They’ll be in good hands,” Nikki assured, “I want you and Tay to get out of here, right now, and leave this one to us. Your priority needs to be yourselves right now.”  
“I’ll go,” Kate offered, “we can go pick them up. We have the room.”  
“Not with those things in the car,” Natalie insisted.  
“We’ll pick them up and meet you in Atlanta,” Kate indicated for her kids to get back in the car, “and if it happens to be a trap, we can deal with it.”  
“What happened to you?” Natalie shook her head in disbelief.  
“The sooner I leave the sooner I pick them up,” Kate insisted, “kids, _move_!”  
“Bye,” Junia quickly hugged Penny before following her brothers back to the car.  
“Stop,” Nikki took Natalie’s shoulder again as she were about to protest, “if she wants to go, let her go. Just follow.”  
Natalie let out a disgruntled exclamation before turning back to her car.  
“Taylor!”  
He watched the lights of Kate’s SUV spring to life before making his way to Nikki’s side. He pulled her into a hug.  
“Thank you,” he said sincerely.  
“I appreciate it but we don’t have time,” she insisted softly.  
The moment he pulled away Everett had hugged him instead. Taylor paused, but leant over to return it.  
“Please come back and teach me,” he said in a small voice, Nikki watching on curiously.  
“I’m going to make it my mission, I swear,” Taylor promised, before they both had to step back from the dust cloud Kate was leaving behind.  
Once she was on the driveway Taylor quickly ruffled Everett’s hair before rushing over to where Natalie already had their own car going.


	11. 2020

“I don’t trust her,” Natalie broke the silence in the car at least twenty minutes into the drive.  
“Do you want to tell me why?” Taylor shrugged, “or just leave me guessing?”  
“Too long of a story,” she glanced in the rear view mirror.  
Both Penny and River were staring out opposite windows, but were obviously still listening in.  
“Do you want me to drive?” Taylor offered.  
“No. You should be ready to duck just in case,” Natalie insisted.  
“You can’t drive the whole way yourself.”  
“I can drive,” Penny offered.  
“We’ve got it covered,” Natalie gave her husband a glance, “us girls can handle it. Can’t we?”  
Penny just rolled her eyes and continued looking out the window.  
“You guys should get some sleep,” Taylor looked over his shoulder, “we’ve probably got a long day tomorrow.”  
“We’re not gonna sleep,” River held back a smirk, but it was hard, “not when we don’t know where Ezra is.”  
Both Taylor and Natalie caught the look Penny gave him at that, and with a quick glance at each other realised she hadn’t said anything about what had happened before he’d left. Natalie focused on the road again while Taylor debated saying anything.  
“We’ll find him,” Natalie spoke first in a determined tone, “just like we found your father. We’ll get Everett on it as soon as he gets to Chicago.”  
“That could be days,” Penny sounded forlorn, “he could be anywhere by then.”  
“Exactly,” River agreed, “we should get on it right away.”  
“Guys, we’re in the middle of nowhere,” Taylor tried to reason.  
“We’ll look into it when we get to Atlanta, how’s that?” Natalie suggested.  
“But what if it’s too late?” River was genuinely worried.  
“They won’t process him until the morning at least,” Taylor assured, “we have a little time. Once he’s processed they won’t move him for a couple of days, or until the next scheduled departure. They won’t move him alone and he’ll have an escort.”  
“Is that what happened with you?” Natalie gave him a quick glance.  
“That’s protocol,” Taylor answered, “they didn’t really stick to protocol with me.”  
River leant forward in his seat, making Taylor look back.  
“And what makes you think they will with Ezra?” he asked seriously.  
It caught Taylor off guard, and he had to break eye contact.  
“He’ll be fine,” Natalie quickly took his shoulder, hoping he wouldn’t panic, “things have changed in the past three years. He’ll be fine. We’ll worry when we get to Atlanta and not before.”  
River sat back and looked out the window again at the cars and trucks passing by.   
“He should be going to Houston,” Taylor’s gaze was on the opposite dark landscape, “where they were supposed to take me.”  
“But they didn’t, and there’s no guarantee-“  
“ _We_ should be going to Houston,” Taylor interrupted his daughter, before focusing on his wife, “and not just for Ezra.”


	12. 2020

“This possibly isn’t the best time to be making rash decisions,” Natalie warned.  
“They wouldn’t expect us to be heading for Houston tonight,” Taylor pointed out, “they might even be figuring out Atlanta as we speak.”  
“But what about Zoe?” Penny was startled.  
“Don’t worry about Zoe,” Natalie insisted, “she’ll be fine.”  
“Like Ezra was?”  
“Cut the snark!” she snapped at River.  
“Hey, hey,” Taylor attempted to keep the peace, “calm down. We can’t worry about anyone but ourselves right now, at least for a couple days. However, I’m just saying I think the four of us should head for Houston instead of Atlanta because we need to keep this ball rolling.”  
“What ball?” Natalie frowned, “and what about my mother? She’s expecting all of us there.”  
“We’ll call her as soon as we can,” Taylor assured, “but you said so yourself, the last thing we need to do is run and hide. I think we need to go to the source of all this and actually take a stand.”  
“I like it!” River insisted.  
“Did you hit your head or something?” Natalie scorned, “you, _you_ want to go to Houston and take on who? The Governor General? The President herself?”  
“Whatever it takes,” Taylor shrugged.  
“Where has this come from? A day ago you wanted nothing to do with it!”  
“Minds change,” he said simply, “maybe it changed in the last two hours.”  
“Dad, please don’t do something stupid just because Ezra did,” Penny warned.  
“And what about Viggo and Willa? We’re supposed to be meeting them in Atlanta. What are they going to think if we don’t show up?” Natalie was panicking.  
“They’ll be fine,” Taylor insisted, “your Mom can handle it. Unless there is legitimately something you’re not telling me about Kate.”  
“There isn’t,” Natalie insisted.  
“Then they can handle it, what’s the problem?” Taylor shrugged.  
“The problem is that my husband suddenly wants to go on a suicide mission after we just spent three years trying to get him back,” she said mostly between her teeth.  
“But for what?” he demanded, “you didn’t honestly think I’d come back and play happy families, did you? No. You wanted me back to help you fight. Now that it’s what I want to do, you’re having second thoughts?”  
“He has a point,” River chimed in.  
“The point is we’re not going to be able to set foot in Houston – let alone get anywhere near the President – without you being taken in again,” Natalie was determined, “so if you have some kind of plan with a different end result, speak up now.”  
“Maybe it’s what we need to do,” Taylor said calmly.  
“…What?” she blinked.  
“If we can’t get close to her legitimately, then maybe we need to create a little chaos.”  
Penny and River had fallen silent in the back, listening intently.  
“It’s what you guys have already been doing. Creating a voice, creating a movement… If we make it known that we’re there, and we want to talk… if we have enough backing they’re not going to be able to refuse us.”  
“And what if their orders are to shoot you on sight?” Natalie worried, “what then?”


	13. 2020

Jennifer quickly wiped her eyes as the car pulled up behind them, headlights blinding until they were shut off.  
“Stay here,” she told the kids, needing first to make sure it was safe.  
She closed the door behind her and hugged herself as she stepped out onto the road.  
“Need some help?” a figure approached, backlit by the park lights.  
“Kate?” Jennifer was instantly nervous, “is that you?”  
“To the rescue,” Jenifer could see her smile, “are they okay?”  
“A bit shaken up, but they’re okay,” Jennifer insisted, “the left front tire’s out. I don’t know how to change it.”  
“Well we can do that,” Kate assured, a hand on her shoulder, “and we can teach you how. Shepherd?!”  
A car door opened and her eldest pulled himself out.  
“You guys want to look after your cousins while we fix this tire?” she asked.  
Without responding, Shepherd called his brother and sister out before heading for the car himself. Jennifer stood aside awkwardly as they reunited with Viggo and Willa. Kate went to the driver’s side and popped the trunk before going to find the spare tire and jack.  
“Can’t you just take us?” Jennifer asked, following her, “Ezra didn’t exactly get the car by honest means. What if they come back?”  
“Well,” Kate pulled out the tire and let it land on the ground with a bounce before looking across, “that’s why they sent me. They figured this might be a trap, so they sent Tay and Nat on their way and left you to me.”  
Jennifer chewed on her bottom lip, her earlier nervousness returning like a shot. Kate fetched the tools and closed the trunk.  
“We’re meeting them though, right?” she checked.  
“Sure, in Atlanta,” Kate set the jack in place before affixing the iron, “we just have to get you there. Without Ezra that shouldn’t be a problem.”  
“His birthday isn’t until next week,” Jennifer’s worry was clear in her voice, “they can’t hold him that long, right?”  
Kate got down on one knee and began to raise the car.  
“Do you want the real answer to that? Or do you want me to make you feel better?” she offered.  
Jennifer figured she might as well just stop talking altogether. She turned her attention to the kids, half in and half out of the car now. Shepherd was keeping them well entertained and Willa had seemed to perk up already with Junia around.  
She thought about warning them away from the edge of the road, but there weren’t many cars and she could easily warn them if they saw one coming. What was once a bustling highway at all hours of the day and night had steadily become more and more deserted over the past few years.  
“Come here,” Kate called her over as she stood up again, having finished raising the car.  
She pointed to the tyre iron.  
“Put your foot on that and push down,” she instructed.  
Jennifer hesitated, but didn’t want to argue with her. She did as Kate told her and they were soon swapping the tires over.  
“Do you know which way to go?” Kate waited for her nod once they were done, “good. I’ll follow you at a distance. If you feel unsafe at any time, just pull over. And take Shepherd with you.”


	14. 2020

Ezra’s head shot up as the van slowed down. He couldn’t see much from the back and he was prodded anytime he moved, but he could make out a slight sliver of cloudy sky through the porthole into the front cabin.  
“Nearly there,” one of the officers in the back with him taunted.  
“And then what?” his eyes gave away his worry, but he kept his voice even.  
“Then you’ll be processed,” the officer beside him mused, lifting her hand to touch his hair, “don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. It won’t hurt a bit.”  
“Don’t touch me,” he ducked away, a bit more venom in his voice than intended.  
The officer paused, before roughly grabbing the chain that joined his shackles. Ezra clenched his fists as he forced himself to stay upright.  
“That’s something you’ll have to get used to,” she smirked.  
He kept his eye on the back door as the van slowly came to a halt. The two officers with him waited until it stopped before both unhooking his shackles from the van floor and opening the door. Ezra couldn’t even see daylight. It looked like a loading dock.  
“Out you come,” the one who’d teased him took him by the arm to pull him forward.  
They both had to help him down to the ground and as they closed the van behind him he quickly scoped out the room. A large garage door had closed behind them, complete with guards of its own, and another officer stood at the entrance to a hallway.   
This wasn’t going to be an easy place to break out of.  
“This way,” the same officer took his arm again, walking slowly so that he could keep up.  
Already Ezra was blatantly reminded of his age. There didn’t appear to be any women under forty working there.   
He was led through to a holding cell and locked inside the first one they came to. Surprisingly, there was already someone else in the next one over. He and Ezra eyed each other as the officer informed Ezra that he would be fed a small lunch shortly.  
“Aren’t these coming off?” he indicated the shackles, remaining by the door.  
“No,” she smirked before turning away.  
“You guys know you can still only keep me for twenty-four hours, right?!” he called after her, “I’m still underage! Or doesn’t the law matter anymore?!”  
“I honestly don’t think they care.”  
Ezra paused frustratedly before giving the man a glance.  
“I know you,” his eyes narrowed suspiciously, “haven’t I seen you on TV?”  
Ezra sighed and shifted over to the bench seat at the back of the cell. There was bustling going on over at the office counter as they organised his paperwork.  
“You’re Johnny Doe,” his cellmate realised, “do your friends know you’re here?”  
“Don’t expect a rescue party,” Ezra shook his head.  
“I was more hoping that some of your campaigns might actually start working.”  
Ezra smirked at that, lowering his eyes to the hand cuffs.  
“So they in Houston?”  
“No, no they aren’t,” Ezra admitted, “they picked me up just East of El Paso.”  
“But they’ll come, right?”  
Ezra took a deep breath, looking up to where the officers were deliberating. Some of them were now giving him odd looks and he knew they’d found his fake IDs.


	15. 2020

“How old are you?”  
Ezra looked up at his cellmate, not really in the mood for conversation. He was busy just trying to keep himself calm.  
“Seventeen,” he admitted, picking at his nails.  
“And they brought you all the way from El Paso?”  
“There was no one to stop them,” Ezra kept his eye on the officers now, worried they might overhear their talking, “they left my fiancé on the side of the road with a broken car. My little brother and sister too.”  
“No shit.”  
Ezra shook his head before leaning forward to cover his eyes. The reality of the situation was just starting to hit him, now that he’d been sitting there a while. He had no way of checking on Jennifer, he had no way of getting her help. He’d been taken out of the game at one of the worst possible times – during an evacuation – and now he was quite probably never going to find out what had happened to any of them. Did they make it to safety? Were they caught?  
 _Was his Mom caught?_  
He grunted as he forced himself to keep it together. He didn’t need to lose it this soon. There’d be plenty of time for that later.  
“Are you okay?” the cellmate asked, before they were both distracted by footsteps.  
Ezra’s head shot up as two of the officers made their way to the other cell.   
“Come on Lloyd, your transfer’s here,” one of them informed him.  
They weren’t the ones that had brought Ezra in. A quick look back to the office saw them still going through his effects.  
“Took long enough,” his cellmate muttered, getting to his feet, “hey!”  
Ezra looked up at the call.  
“It’s okay son, you’ll be out of here in a day,” he was assured, “good luck.”  
Ezra just watched as he was led out and back down the hall he’d earlier come from. Somehow despite having no contact with the man, his departure already had Ezra feeling more vulnerable.   
“Forever and a day more like,” he said softly to himself, sitting back against the wall again.  
The silence in the room was now deafening. Used to the hustle and bustle of either a busy home or a busy cityscape, it didn’t take long for Ezra’s ears to start ringing. Yet he knew he had a lot more of it to look forward to. When the officers finally finished going through everything – maybe an hour later – one of them left the room and the other came to his cell door.  
“Now, Mr Hanson… if that is your real name…”  
His eyes narrowed. They had to know he’d given them a valid ID.  
“…You’ve given us a lot of work to do here, so you won’t be transferred for a while yet. You may even have to spend the night here,” she informed him, “but we’ll have you on your way as soon as possible. We’ll have you processed once the paperwork is done and send you off to Houston DC.”  
“You can’t do that,” Ezra shook his head, “you can’t send me to the detention center, I’m not old enough!”  
The woman rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.  
“You will be,” he heard from under her breath.


	16. 2020

It was just after midday when Natalie pulled into the back lot of a gas station, waking both Taylor and Penny when the motion stopped.  
“Where are we?” Taylor asked before he’d even forced his eyes open.  
“Just outside Houston,” she replied after removing her seatbelt, “so what do you want to do?”  
“Eat,” River replied fastest.  
“Is there a bathroom here?” Penny rubbed her eyes before looking out the window.  
“We can do all that,” Natalie assured as Taylor sighed.  
She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head.  
“Why don’t I get the kids sorted and you sort yourself out,” she suggested before opening her door.  
Taylor watched after her as both River and Penny got out themselves, before jumping a little as River appeared at his window.  
“You want something to eat?” he offered.  
“Sure,” Taylor returned with a smile.  
“Coffee?”  
“Even better,” he rubbed his eyes as River disappeared again.  
He turned to check over his shoulder to make sure that Natalie had definitely parked somewhere isolated. The nearest vehicle was a truck closer to the front of the store.  
With a deep breath he leant back in his seat and closed his eyes again. Before falling asleep he hadn’t really had time to come up with a plan. He’d been partly hoping to just integrate himself into one of his wife’s usual plans of action for a city like this, but her pessimism was off-putting to say the least.   
But it was still early hours.  
River and Penny both returned to the car before she did, River handing his father a large coffee and something in a wrap. When Natalie got in the first thing she did was unpack a new cell phone.  
“Is that a good idea?” Taylor’s brow rose.  
“It’s fine while we’re on the move,” she assured, opting to set it up before paying any attention to her food, “I’ll give Mom a call to let her know where we are and what’s happened to Ezra, then we can find a motel to lay low in for a while.”  
“Where would they have taken him?” River asked from the back.  
“Probably to a station for processing,” Taylor replied while Natalie worked, “then he’ll need to front court before they take him anywhere near detention. Don’t worry, he has time.”  
“He can’t go to detention until he’s eighteen,” Penny added.  
“But they’re not supposed to hold him more than a day without charge.”  
“You think that’ll stop them? Maybe they made up some bullshit excuse, you don’t know.”  
“Language please,” Taylor cut in, “let’s not panic yet until we know what’s going on.”  
“We’re not gonna know what’s going on!” River grabbed the back of his seat, “we didn’t with you!”  
“Calm down!” Natalie ordered, already frustrated with how long the phone was taking to set up, “we’re all tired, we’re all worried. Let’s just take this one step at a time and not speculate.”  
The car fell silent as Natalie managed to call through to her parents’ house. She told her mother about their immediate plans, but nothing too specific. In turn her mother informed her that no one else had arrived in Atlanta yet.


	17. 2020

Ezra jumped at a noise from the other side of the office. He’d been curled up on the bench for the past few hours trying to get some sleep. He’d been awake for near on forty-eight hours and the extra stress had him exhausted. But he was already at the point where he found it hard to drop off.  
The women around him weren’t making it particularly easy, either.  
When he managed to force his eyes open he realised a back door had opened and some more women had appeared. This time in suits.  
“This is he?” one of them pointed to his cell.  
“The one and only,” the officer on duty responded.  
The two women made their way to the cell and Ezra forced himself to sit up.   
“Jordan Hanson?” one of them confirmed.  
“Who’s asking?” was his tired reply, squinting up at them.  
“I’m Agent Carter this is Agent Page. We’re here to talk about your father,” one introduced.  
“What about him?” Ezra was suddenly paying more attention, knowing they had to be FBI.  
Maybe even the same ones who’d been tailing he and his mother in Chicago.  
“When was the last time you saw him?” Page asked.  
“When he went to war,” Ezra shrugged.  
“Now we know that’s not true,” Carter mused, “we know he was living at home with you for at least six months after he was discharged.”  
“My father didn’t come back from the war, someone else did,” was his retort.  
The agents shared a glance and Carter rolled her eyes.  
“We know you were in Chicago when he went missing from detention,” she informed him, “how long did you spend planning his escape?”  
“We didn’t plan his escape,” Ezra shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
“This will go a lot easier for you if you co-operate with us,” Page warned, making Ezra scoff.  
“That didn’t take long,” he muttered.  
“Excuse us?”  
“The intimidation tactics,” Ezra shrugged, “I’m just saying it didn’t take long for there to be an ‘or else’.”  
“You may currently be too young for detention,” Carter relented, “but you are certainly not too young for juvi, and it would not take much at all for us to have you transferred there right away. Your rap sheet was already long enough without your father’s escape.”  
“If your father has told you any stories about what detention was like, imagine a communal prison where you’re the only male,” Page added, a little snark in her voice.  
“So my choice is rape or rape?” Ezra’s brow rose, “I know it’s supposed to be in there somewhere, but I’m just not hearing the incentive.”  
“If you tell us where your father is, along with the rest of your family, we will make the transition as smooth as possible,” Carter promised, “and because you’re underage, you’ll still have a weeks’ grace before deployment.”  
“You know what?” his eyes narrowed, “I saw the tapes from Phoenix. I know what’s happening to my Aunt over there. If you think I’m gullible enough to believe that any of this is going to come easy then there’s been some serious miscommunication here.”  
“And how, pray tell, would you have seen those tapes?” Page demanded.


	18. 2020

“Why, aren’t they public record?” Ezra had some snark of his own.  
“You would know very well that they aren’t,” Page scorned.  
Ezra couldn’t wipe the smirk from his face, glad that he was riling them up already.  
“All we want from you is a location. That’s all,” Carter insisted.  
“Seattle,” Ezra shrugged.  
“Who’s there?” Page took out her notepad.  
“I don’t know. You wanted a location, Seattle is a location.”  
“After everything your country has done for you,” Carter’s eyes narrowed as Page huffed, “this is your choice of how to repay it? In case you’ve forgotten, without the war we’d currently be under North Korean rule. Yes there were a bad number of casualties, but it was a bad war. No one expected it to be easy, not in the nuclear age. Were we expecting that many fatalities? Of course not. I’m sure they would have revised their operations if they’d had any idea of Korea’s tactics in that regard.”  
Ezra rolled his eyes.  
“Surely you’ve understood by now that our losses, though horrible, were unavoidable.”  
“I would love to see you tell my father that,” Ezra could feel his blood starting to boil.  
“We gladly would, if you would tell us where he is,” Page added.  
“I don’t know where he is.”  
“Come now, you don’t expect us to believe that.”  
“You might think I’m a dumbass kid,” Ezra’s brow rose, “but I know enough about the process to know that I’m fucked either way. Whether it’s the truth or not you’ll never know, and you’ll never do enough to be sure. There’s absolutely nothing you can say or do to make me betray the people I love, who’ve done nothing but try to restore order to a fucked up country.”  
“That’s not very patriotic,” Page mused as Carter locked eyes with the remaining officer.  
“Patriotism is a blind man’s disease,” Ezra spat, well aware the officer was bringing the cell keys over, “you’re taught from a young age to blindly follow a leader who barely knows what they’re doing despite your own beliefs. You’re taught that disagreeing with them at all is wrong. Do you really think every man we lost in that war believed in what he was fighting for? Do you really think if they knew what we’d become, they would have still fought? My family is fighting to right these wrongs and turn the blame on those who are actually responsible for all this death and chaos instead of those who simply failed to die in the process. They are who I owe my life to. The war didn’t take my Dad away, you people did. I owe you absolutely _nothing_.”  
“Conveniently forgetting your own part in the process?” Carter raised a brow.  
The two agents were now inside the cell, and Carter was rolling up her sleeves.  
“We’re well aware that it was your own tip that led the police to your father in the first place, subsequently detaining him for the past three years.”  
“That has nothing to do with this,” Ezra seethed.  
“It has everything to do with this,” Carter worked on the other sleeve, “it tells us your loyalties can be swayed, even if it takes time.”  
Ezra eyed her sideways before checking on the officer. She’d gone back to her station and was conveniently no longer paying attention.  
“Do your worst,” he shrugged, suddenly looking tired, “but I stand by what I said. You’ll get nothing out of me.”


	19. 2020

“Dad!” River called from the main room, “you’re on TV!”  
“Keep your voice down,” Natalie warned from the kitchenette.  
“Sorry.”  
Taylor appeared from the bathroom where he’d been drying his hair with a towel. River turned the volume up as Penny sat up on the other single bed.   
It was a news report advertising his escape, he assumed for not the first time.   
“Did that say there was a reward?” Natalie paused what she was doing.  
“Yep,” River replied.  
“Fifty thousand,” Taylor pulled a face.  
“Cool!”  
“No that’s not cool,” Natalie finally came to watch, “that means that people who wouldn’t usually turn us in, might. Why did they have to bring money into it?”  
“Because they’re not on our side?” Taylor couldn’t help but suggest.  
Natalie glared at him before the report ended and she turned her back.  
“How long do we have to stay here?” Penny asked, worried.  
“Maybe longer now,” Taylor was solemn, “it might pay to only go out at night.”  
“It didn’t mention me or Penny,” River pointed out, “we could go out.”  
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Natalie insisted, “for now just prepare to be stuck here a while.”  
She jumped as the cell phone she’d used to call her mother suddenly rang. She’d been working on activating the other three they’d bought with it.  
“Hello?” she answered, “…Jess?! How are you, what’s going on?”  
Taylor took a seat on the bed beside River as he continued drying his hair. River turned the volume back down.  
“Are you okay? Are Walker and Di there?”  
Taylor looked up at the sound of her worry. She didn’t give anything away, and he had to wait until the call was over.  
“What’s wrong?” he asked.  
“They’re not letting her see Avery,” Natalie set the phone down, taking up another to continue her work, “she’s going to try again tomorrow before taking it higher. Joe and Hans are safe at a motel and your parents are staying nearby.”  
“Have they tried to see her?”  
“I think they were going to try tomorrow too, but Jess is worried it could be a tactic to get to you.”  
“You think they’ll take my parents in?” Taylor frowned.  
“I don’t know at this point,” Natalie shook her head, exasperated, “but if they were, why wouldn’t they take Jess too? I don’t know what their problem is right now.”  
“Maybe they think having Ezra is enough?” Penny suggested.  
“Or he’s bait,” River gave her a glance.  
“We’re not going after Ezra. Not yet,” Natalie insisted, “we need the heat to die down first.”  
“But what if he gets attacked?!” River demanded, “what if they hurt him?!”  
“It’s probably already happened, Riv’,” Taylor said softly.  
“So we’re giving up?!”  
“No,” Natalie assured, “we’re not giving up. But we’re going to be smart about it this time.”


	20. 2020

“This is it,” Zoe announced as she pulled Charlotte’s car into the driveway.  
Charlotte leant forward apprehensively.  
“And we’re definitely the first ones here,” Zoe pulled the handbrake on and turned the car off.  
“They know we’re coming, right?” Charlotte couldn’t be sure that she’d already checked.  
“Right,” Zoe assured, “come on!”  
Charlotte chewed her lip and she followed her out, going to the back to fetch Jorryn from his seat. The young boy had been restless for the last hour or so.  
“Hey Pam!”  
She looked up to see Zoe greeting an older woman at the door with a warm hug.  
“I’m so sorry we just kinda dropped this on you all in one day…”  
“It’s no worry,” the woman assured, “I was unsure we’d have the room but we will make do. I have something I need to tell you.”  
“We should probably get the kids settled first, they’re really tired,” Zoe suggested, indicating the car.  
Pam waited at the door as she returned to help Charlotte by collecting Eden. When they managed to gather the essentials from the car Zoe locked it up before leading Charlotte up the path.  
“This is Charlotte… and Eden, and Jorryn,” she introduced, “and this is Natalie’s Mom, Pam.”  
“It’s nice to meet you,” her smile was just as warm as her daughters’, eyes already on the children, “have they eaten?”  
“Not for a while,” Charlotte admitted, “it’s nice to meet you too.”  
“Come on inside,” Pam insisted, “the other cars shouldn’t be here until morning.”  
“We all left about the same time,” Zoe looked confused as she followed – Eden perched on her hip.  
“That’s what I need to talk to you about. I had a call from Natalie today.”  
“Already?” Zoe set her bags down on a chair.  
“Yes. She, Taylor, Penny and River have gone to Houston.”  
“What?” Charlotte couldn’t help but stare.  
“Why?” Zoe frowned, “why on Earth would they risk that?! Why not come here to regroup first?”  
“Could you please close the door?” Pam asked Charlotte.  
Biting her lip but setting her things on the floor so that she could, Charlotte carefully closed it as Zoe stared Pam down.  
“I’m not too sure how I should say this,” Pam began ominously, “but Ezra was arrested soon after leaving El Paso.”  
“Ezra?” Charlotte gasped.  
“Was arrested?” Zoe’s brow rose, “why? And how? Where’s Jenny?”  
“Jenny is fine – as are Viggo and Willa,” Pam assured, “Kate was sent out to retrieve them and the seven of them should be well on their way here by now.”  
“Kate?!” Zoe exclaimed.  
“It’s okay!” Pam assured, a hand up to pacify, “they’re coming straight here. I’m sure we’ll find out what happened tomorrow.”  
“But why was Kate at Sonic?! She wasn’t there when we left! How long did they wait?!”  
“Did Natalie say anything else when she called?” Charlotte thought to ask.  
“Just that Ezra would likely be headed for Houston, so that’s where they’ve gone,” Pam responded calmly, “and that the only three cars coming would be yours, Jennifer’s and Kate’s.”


	21. 2020

“You should probably get some sleep,” Taylor suggested, keeping his voice down so as not to disturb Penny or River.  
“Not yet,” Natalie insisted, “Nikki should be checking in soon. I need to talk to Everett.”  
Taylor’s eyes fell to one of the motel pamphlets on the table between them. The drastic change to his daily routine had taken its toll on his sleep patterns as well, but he was more worried about how strung out Natalie was becoming. She’d certainly snapped a few times on the journey to Houston and he already felt like he was walking on eggshells.  
“I think he’ll be okay,” he broke the otherwise awkward silence, “he’s a strong kid. Lord knows we’ve asked a lot of him over the years.”  
“I’m not worried about him,” Natalie scoffed, “I’m worried about _them_.”  
“And that’s founded,” Taylor agreed, “but he’s a fighter. He’ll get through whatever they throw at him.”  
“I’m worried they’ll kill him,” she said straight out.  
Taylor paused at that, not sure what to say. He didn’t really believe that they would, but he’d had a very concentrated view of the entire operation until his escape.  
“Guards have killed before, whether it be to cover up their own agendas or because of a personal dislike, we don’t know. We just don’t have any solid proof,” she seemed to pick up on his doubt.  
“How often?” Taylor frowned.  
“It’s hard to say, considering the amount of suicides,” she shook her head, “it’s not easy to tell who took their own lives versus who might have been murdered. There were no investigations, so…”  
“No official way to tell,” Taylor realised aloud.  
“Right.”  
“So what makes you so sure?” he felt the need to challenge.  
“It doesn’t take an idiot to-“  
She stopped herself and took a deep breath, having to remind herself that he was still out of the loop. When she looked up he was still waiting.  
“They disclose suicides. They’re made to by law,” she said calmly, “it doesn’t take much to point out that some of the deaths are a lot more suspicious than they’re made to appear.”  
“Understood,” Taylor nodded, “but what makes you think Ezra’s in the same danger?”  
“Because he’s your son,” she wasn’t going to skirt the issue, “because he’s already well known. Because he stuck his neck out for the cause on so many occasions. Because he helped create a voice that no one wanted to hear. Because-“  
She was cut off by her cell phone vibrating. Taylor sat back in his seat and rubbed his face as she quickly answered it.  
“Hello? Nikki, hey…”  
She quickly grabbed a pen and prepared to take notes.  
“How many numbers do you have? Yes I’ll write them down now if you have them. Is Everett getting set up yet?”  
Knowing she’d be there a while, Taylor stood to go and check on River and Penny. Neither of them had stirred. The trip had worn them all out.  
He sat on the bed opposite theirs to wait, debating if he should just try and get some sleep instead.


	22. 2020

Ezra’s eyes stayed open at a slit as he worked to keep himself awake. He was sprawled on the bench again – still shackled – hours after his run in with the FBI. He hadn’t told them anything, and he didn’t regret anything.  
But he had to keep himself awake in case he had a concussion.   
The guard at reception was singing to herself as she went about her work.   
He wondered at the likelihood of them bringing in another deserter anytime soon. Then at least he’d have a distraction. None of the women seemed at all concerned about him falling asleep.   
He hadn’t been offered food or water.  
He hadn’t been given a timeframe.  
He had been fingerprinted which he hadn’t had done before. The patrol guard had gone to supervise them being run, leaving him alone aside from the singer down the hall.   
It would have been a great time to make a run for it if he’d had any energy left.  
Just as he was trying to work out if he could actually move as far as the door, he could hear their footsteps coming back. Without otherwise moving his eyes followed their shadows across the floor until they came into sight. It was the same guard along with Agent Carter.   
She stood aside as the cell was unlocked, before leading the way in.  
“Sit up, Hanson.”  
Ezra didn’t stir, his eyes on her feet. After waiting a few seconds she came toward him and roughly grabbed him by the hair. He grimaced as she pulled him up before hitting his head back against the wall.  
All he could think was that he’d have to stay awake even longer now.  
“It seems you’ve been pretty busy since your father was incarcerated,” Carter said before the ringing in his ears had even stopped.  
He managed to force his eyes open again, seeing her looking at her palm pilot.  
“Six stolen cars in Texas alone? _Damn_.”  
Ezra couldn’t help but be somewhat surprised they’d only linked him to six.  
“I can only imagine what we’ll find when we run your prints through the national database.”  
“What do you want?” he choked out, phlegm caught in his throat.  
“Right now it doesn’t matter,” Carter assured, “we officially have enough on you to transfer you directly into the hands of the HDC.”  
She leant forward, her hands on her knees, to meet his eye line.  
“However. If you decide to give us the location we want… there are ways we can make this easier for you.”  
“You already have the location,” Ezra frowned, “it’s been hours, you would have found it by now.”  
“We have the location where you were, yes,” Carter relented, “but where did they go?”  
“It’s not that simple.”  
“It really is,” she was being obviously patronizing, “it’s four little words. So work with me. They… are… in…?”  
Ezra’s nostrils flared as he took a deep breath.  
“Hiding,” he finished for her.  
The next thing he felt were her fingers around his throat.  
“Has the ‘good cop’ thing ever worked for you? Or do you really think I’m that stupid?” he smirked.


	23. 2020

“Everett honey? You should probably get some sleep. It’ll still be there in the morning.”  
“I can’t!” he insisted, too riled up to even consider it, “I need to have this running by morning so I’m not wasting time.”  
He was struggling to navigate the connections of his grandparents’ old computer, and trying to find a way to speed up their internet. Not having access to a smartphone yet was frustrating enough without having to use a console from the 00’s.  
“Sleep isn’t a waste of time,” Nikki assured, “I’m sure it’s not just me that would appreciate you at your best tomorrow.”  
Everett ignored her, trying to concentrate on untangling cables.   
“Everett?”  
“What?!”  
“Don’t you raise your voice at me,” Nikki grew stern, “and I’ll go Full Mom on you in a moment if you don’t stop what you’re doing and go to bed.”  
“Dad would let me stay up,” he mumbled.  
“Excuse me?” Nikki wasn’t sure she’d heard what she’d heard.  
“I said Dad would let me,” he admitted, “cos he knows how important it is, and that if it was me instead of Ez that Penny or River or whoever wouldn’t go to bed either.”  
Nikki had been about to retort the comment about Isaac, but what he’d added had stopped her.   
“Besides, I got plenty of sleep in the car,” he pointed out as he finally released a cable from the mess.  
“I’ll give you an hour,” Nikki relented, “but then I’m cutting power to the whole house.”  
Everett waited until she was out of sight before rolling his eyes.  
He connected the Ethernet to the console and threw the rest of the cords away before taking a seat and trying to connect the network. He managed to tap into the connection from next door which got him a little more speed.  
He still wasn’t sure how he was going work with such a lack of RAM or memory.  
He checked over his shoulder to make sure his mom was actually gone, hoping that he’d remember to ask her to go to the store first thing in the morning. Until then, he was going to focus on the Texan authorities.  
The slow internet meant it took fifteen minutes just to get into the Houston PD database, which Everett immediately regretted bothering with when he found nothing there. He quickly consulted a map he’d borrowed from his grandparents’ library before doing an almost-quick search of the nearest PD departments to where Ezra had been picked up – Pecos and Fort Stockton. A keyword search turned up nothing in Pecos, and he had to stop himself yelling aloud when Ezra’s name finally came up in Fort Stockton.  
A quick glance at the clock told him he had ten minutes left. Knowing he couldn’t really do anything else with the information before his time would be up, he reached for the new cell phone Nikki had designated to be his.  
Hoping he wasn’t waking anyone up, he dialled and put it to his ear.


	24. 2020

“Tay? Taylor?”  
Taylor jumped awake, forcing himself to stay down as he came to. Natalie was standing over him having just taken her hand from his shoulder.  
It took him a moment to realise he must have fallen asleep right where he’d been sitting watching the kids.  
“Everett’s on the phone,” Natalie informed him, “do you want to talk to him?”  
“Yeah, sure,” he sat up again, feeling the strain in his back.  
Natalie handed him the phone and he stood to take it into the bathroom.  
“Everett?”  
“Hey Uncle Tay. Sorry I know it’s late.”  
“That’s okay Everett,” he rubbed his neck, knowing it had to be important, “what’s up?”  
“They took Ezra to a station in Fort Stockton and he’s been there since they got him,” Everett rattled off, “I was hoping you could give me a time you think they might transfer him so I can watch out tomorrow? Mom’s making me go to bed soon.”  
“Uh…” Taylor massaged the bridge of his nose as he tried to wake up enough to think.  
“I mean he’s already been there a whole day and I thought it would be like a quick in and out but I wasn’t watching when they did it with you and we haven’t really followed anyone else so I-“  
“Everett? It’s okay,” Taylor assured, just wanting him to stop talking, “it sounds right. They can’t send him to detention because he’s too young, and they can’t send him to juvi until a judge orders it. That means he’d need a trial and that could take anything from days to weeks.”  
“Are you sure? How long did yours take?”  
“Mine? Uh… two weeks. But there were juridical issues. Ezra won’t have that problem, and I’d say there’s less backlog in the system too.”  
“They kept you in a station?”  
“Everett I’d say we have at least a few days. You should get some sleep,” Taylor insisted, “don’t worry about it until tomorrow. You’ve done a great job.”  
He heard his nephew sigh, and Nikki’s voice appear in the background.  
“Okay,” he was reluctant.  
“And don’t worry,” Taylor added, “we’ll get him back. I know we will.”  
“I know,” Everett grumbled.   
“Hey,” Taylor recognised that he was upset, “call me tomorrow, okay? Even if you don’t have anything, just call. I want to talk to you.”  
“Okay,” didn’t sound as forlorn, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”  
“You will,” he assured, “I’m not going anywhere.”  
“Bye Uncle Tay.”  
“Bye.”  
Taylor hung up, finding himself not even minding that Everett had called him ‘Tay’. When he made to leave the bathroom he stopped short finding Natalie standing in the doorway.  
“He’s in Fort Stockton,” he cleared his throat a little, the game face going back on, “he’s been there since he was picked up.”  
Natalie nodded, barely acknowledging it.  
“That was sweet, what you just did,” she nodded, “I’m sure he appreciates it.”  
Taylor watched after her as she turned to walk away, now just feeling awkward about it.


	25. 2020

When Charlotte made it out into the living area the following morning, she saw Zoe sitting at the window.   
“Are you okay?” made her visibly jump.  
“Yeah, I am,” Zoe offered a smile, “just keeping an eye out.”  
“For Ezra’s car?” Charlotte guessed, already uncomfortable at the idea of not having him there.  
Zoe was great, but Ezra had been her rock. She didn’t know how she could do this without him.  
“For my sister-in-law,” Zoe corrected, turning her gaze out the window again, “I haven’t seen her in years.”  
“Oh,” Charlotte realised, “the one that wasn’t at the ranch?”  
“That’s the one,” Zoe sighed, letting the curtain fall back, “she didn’t really leave on great terms with Nat. I’m not sure why she’d be back just because Taylor is.”  
“Would she turn him in?” Charlotte was suddenly worried.  
“I don’t think so,” Zoe shook her head, “but who knows. Of course now with Ezra…”  
She trailed off as a shadow on the window signalled a car entering the driveway. Without making eye contact again she headed straight for the door. Charlotte followed her.  
“Jenny!” she soon rushed out, pulling the distraught teen into her arms, “I’m so sorry!”  
Jennifer didn’t reply, just buried her face in Zoe’s shoulder. Charlotte took note that Viggo and Willa had begun pulling things from the car, with help from yet another boy she’d never seen before who looked to be around the same age.  
It was barely seconds before another car pulled in, and this time Charlotte didn’t recognise the driver. She knew this had to be the other sister.  
The one who didn’t like Jordan.  
The car came to a standstill and yet more children appeared. Somehow it made Charlotte feel a little easier when she realised there was another girl there. She looked only a bit younger than Penny.  
“Kate,” Zoe greeted apprehensively, Jennifer stepping aside.  
“Zoe,” the woman smiled, but it wasn’t a particularly nice smile, “is Pam here?”  
“She’s making breakfast,” Zoe left her arm around Jenny’s shoulder, “there should be enough for everybody.”  
“The kids might want some but I just need some sleep,” Kate adjusted her backpack on her shoulder and walked straight past.  
Her eyes settled on Charlotte for a very awkward moment. Before she could react, Charlotte stepped aside out of her way. Kate’s eyes narrowed a little before otherwise ignoring her as she made her way inside.  
“Hey guys!” Zoe had turned her attention to the kids, “it’s so good to see you! How have you been? Are you doing good in school?”  
Charlotte bit her lip, unsure of what to do. She hadn’t moved before Viggo’s eyes fell on her and he made his way over.  
“Is Eden here?” he asked her.  
“She just woke up,” Charlotte couldn’t help but smile, “do you want to see her?”  
The boy nodded, looking over his shoulder for Willa who was close behind. The two slipped past her and into the house as the older boy made his way to the steps.  
“Hey,” he greeted her, also awkwardly, “uh… I’m Shepherd.”  
He held out his hand.


	26. 2020

Everett was stubbornly rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he loaded the computer up again. He hadn’t slept much, but it was mostly from laying awake worrying all morning.   
Monroe was the only other person awake, and that was because he’d also slept in the car on the way up to Chicago.  
“Did you get it to work?” he asked, watching his brother get more and more frustrated already.  
“Yeah but it’s slow,” Everett grumbled, “Ezra’s in Fort Stockton at the police station, I found him last night.”  
“Cool. But now what?”  
“I’m gonna go through their files and see if I can find what their plans are, or what they’re going to try charging him with or something,” he began to click away as the program finally loaded.  
Monroe sat behind him in silence, knowing he needed to concentrate. Even he began to find the computer’s speed frustrating.   
“Can you make it go faster?” he finally asked.  
“I need mom to go to the store and get some… uh oh.”  
“What?” Monroe sat up.  
“Oh no,” Everett was starting to panic as he scrolled, “no, no! No. This can’t be happening.”  
He reached over for where he’d left his cell phone the night before.   
“What is that?” Monroe frowned at the screen, “are they the charges?”  
“Some of them,” Everett muttered as he put the phone to his ear, “come on, pick up…”  
He continued scrolling down the list before clicking to another page. The four rings it took for the call to be answered felt like eternity.  
“Auntie Nat! It’s Everett. They’re moving Ezra this morning!”  
Monroe bit his lip as he read over his brother’s shoulder.  
“Moving him where?” came Natalie’s tired reply, having been woken up.  
“The HDC!” his panic was evident, “but they can’t do that, can they?!”  
“What? Are you sure?!”  
“I’m positive!”   
He could hear her talking away from the phone, trying to wake Taylor up without waking Penny or River.   
“How long do we have?” she asked into the phone.  
“I think…” Everett checked the clock, “twenty minutes. I’m sorry!”  
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” he could tell by her voice she was upset, “so he’s leaving Fort Stockton for the HDC in twenty minutes.”  
“Right.”  
“Can I call you back?”  
“Um. Yeah?” Everett didn’t really want to hang up, “they’ve charged him with stealing cars and breaking and entering and there’s just so much of it!”  
“I’ll talk to you very soon,” she promised before ending the call.  
Everett dropped the phone to the desk and leant his head in his hand.  
“Shouldn’t he be going to the kids’ jail instead of the detention?” Monroe was confused, “he’s still not eighteen yet.”  
“Exactly,” Everett bit his lip worriedly, “and if they can send him there when he’s not old enough, what’s that gonna mean for us?”


	27. 2020

“What do you want to do?” Taylor had sat up on the bed to whisper.  
“I don’t know,” Natalie was pacing, the phone still in her hand, “it was a fluke that Charlotte ever got you out of Chicago in the first place. Houston is going to have so much more security. Once he goes in he might not ever…”  
She trailed off, having to stop and take a deep breath so she didn’t just start crying then and there.  
“I was gone forever too,” Taylor said softly, “you found me.”  
“That’s different,” she shook her head, “we didn’t know. And once we knew where you were we already had a way in. This time there’s nothing. Houston is the highest security detention in the country purely because of where it is. There’s no way we could pull the same thing again.”  
“It won’t go that far,” Taylor leant forward, “for anyone to see him he’d have to be in the program already. That will take time. If they’ve charged him with anything they have to go through that first-“  
“They didn’t with you,” Natalie scorned.  
Taylor hesitated, his mind racing. He was really just trying to pacify her at this stage.  
“They didn’t,” he agreed, “but that was four years ago, and the world’s eyes weren’t on me.”  
Natalie paused at that, and Taylor knew it had worked.  
“What do they have on him, anyway?” Taylor frowned, “the same thing they had on me?”  
“No, and I don’t know details,” Natalie shrugged, “but they must have printed him. Everett said they had him for stealing cars and breaking and entering.”  
“What?” Taylor’s brow rose, “Ezra’s been stealing cars?!”  
“For the cause,” Natalie scoffed, “there’s an abundance of unused cars out there. He can’t help it if occasionally he picks one someone has an attachment to.”  
“And you’re okay with Ezra stealing cars,” he realised, scratching his head.  
“We can’t exactly afford to keep buying new ones every time something goes wrong, and America’s lacking a few mechanics in case you hadn’t noticed.”  
Taylor’s eyes went to River, putting two and two together.  
“Yes, he’s been very helpful,” Natalie saw the look, “and not without risk either. We had to order him a bunch of manuals just to get him started and even that had to be under a different name to throw the authorities off.”  
“This is insane,” Taylor shook his head, “I can’t believe how much has changed.”  
Natalie scoffed again.  
“I never in my wildest dreams _ever_ thought it would get this bad.”  
“Then you’ve been in denial,” Natalie said bluntly, “we’ve done the best we can with what we have, and we have a lot of support behind us. Both Avery’s college friends and Jenny have been a great asset.”  
Taylor flinched at the name and Natalie noticed right away. Her eyes narrowed.  
“You still blame her, don’t you? Even after what Ezra said.”  
“I’m not an idiot,” Taylor scorned right back, “he did it for her. She’s as guilty as I ever thought.”  
“You’re incredible,” Natalie shook her head, “here I am telling you that she’s been a great help, you already know he’s asked her to marry him, and _still_ -“  
“Maybe you can look past it but I can’t,” he was stern, “this is playing out just the way she wanted it all those years ago, and you two are falling for it hook, line and sinker.”  
“Jenny should not be defined by her mother,” Natalie stared him down, “her mother’s mistakes are not hers. She’s as much a pawn in this as Ezra was.”  
“I wish I could believe that,” Taylor turned his eyes away, “where is she now, anyway?”


	28. 2008

Taylor’s eyes scanned the grounds as he leant back against his car with his arms folded. The school bell was about to ring and he wanted to be sure he spotted Ezra before the five year old spotted him. Sure enough, only a few minutes passed before the bell rang and children began to spill from their classrooms.  
Keeping an eye in the direction he knew Ezra would come from, he wasn’t paying attention to anything else. This meant he didn’t see her coming.  
“Taylor!”  
His eyes shot to his left, and it was all he could do to keep from rolling them.  
“Hey,” his eyes turned back to the crowd.  
“Haven’t seen you here for a while,” the young lady sidled up to him, “it’s usually Nat picking him up on Wednesdays, isn’t it?”  
“She had to go out of town for a few days,” he shrugged, before cringing internally.  
He knew right away he shouldn’t have said it.  
“Really?” she drawled, “well, I know Jenny has wanted a playdate with Ezra for a long time now. Maybe we could come over this afternoon?”  
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he tried to let her down gently, “we’ve got a lot going on.”  
“It must be hard being a single parent-“  
“I’m not a single parent,” he gave her a look of disdain, “she’ll be home on Saturday.”  
“For now at least,” she amended, “it must be hard with the tour coming up and everything. I’m sure I could help you relax. I have some great ways of relieving tension.”  
“I’m sure you do,” Taylor muttered under his breath before finally spotting his son’s red hair in the crowd, “excuse me.”  
Glad for the reason to leave, he headed into the waist-high crowd and felt the smile crossing his face when Ezra first spotted him. Ezra took off at a jog running into his father’s arms. Taylor lifted him straight into the air and onto his hip.  
“Dad!”  
“Hey buddy,” Taylor grinned, “surprise!”  
“Where’s Mom?”  
Taylor rolled his eyes. It never failed.  
“She had to go away for a few days, but we’ll talk to her on the phone as soon as we get home,” he promised, “she was sorry she didn’t get to say goodbye.”  
“When’s she coming home?”  
Taylor jumped when he felt someone tugging at his jeans. Stepping aside to look down, he winced a little when he realised it was Jennifer.  
“Hello Mr Hanson,” she was looking almost directly upward, “can I come play with Ezra today?”  
“Sorry Jenny, Ezra can’t play today,” Taylor apologised, “I’m really busy today and I have to look after him and his sister.”  
“Then can he come to my house?”  
Taylor froze on the spot for a moment, not expecting that one.  
“He’s welcome anytime!”  
He grit his teeth when her mother appeared suddenly behind him, and he had to wonder how long she’d been there.


	29. 2008

“She said what?” Natalie was not impressed.  
“This is getting ridiculous, it’s every time I go there now,” Taylor had his head in his hand, the other holding the phone, “has she bothered you?”  
“She has, but nothing that obvious,” Natalie admitted, “it’s mostly just jeers and nasty looks.”  
“I think we should seriously consider taking the kids out of school,” Taylor admitted reluctantly, “I know we talked about it before and I wasn’t entirely on board, but I’m just-“  
“Getting worried?” Natalie finished for him, “I get it.”  
“Look I know this is a bad time and I’m sorry to dump this on you,” he was obviously regretful, “I just thought you should know right away.”  
“We knew this day might come,” Natalie sighed, “we’ll talk about it seriously when I get home. I’ll call you in the morning?”  
“Sure. Say hi to your Mom for me.”  
“Goodnight Tay. Love you.”  
“I love you more.”  
Taylor hung up the phone and let it fall to the table, running his fingers through his hair before sitting in silent thought. Both Ezra and Penny were in bed for the night and his worries had now gone to his very pregnant wife visiting her family in Atlanta.  
Knowing it wasn’t doing any good just sitting there, he eventually got to his feet and began to head for the music room to try and find something to keep his mind occupied. He didn’t even make it to the doorway before the doorbell rang.  
Stopping short because he wasn’t entirely sure he’d heard what he’d heard, he looked back over his shoulder with a frown. He couldn’t see the screen from where he was but he could see that it was illuminated. There was definitely someone at the door.  
Upon inspection of the screen, he let out a groan. But he hit the intercom.  
“Can I help you, Carmen?”  
“Taylor,” he could hear the smile in her voice, “is everything alright?”  
“It was. But I’m wondering what you’re doing here so late,” he frowned.  
He wasn’t sure she knew, but he could see her roll her eyes.  
“I think I’ve been patient enough,” she said seriously, “just open the door.”  
“What do you mean ‘patient’?”  
“Taylor just let me in.”  
“I can’t have you here,” he insisted, already fed up, “the kids are asleep. You need to leave.”  
“That’s perfect!” she seemed to only hear the middle part, “we won’t disturb them, I promise.”  
“Doing what?!” he was becoming exasperated.  
“Taylor you and I both know this is inevitable. We’ve known from before you even met that woman that you and I were meant to be together-“  
His forehead hit the wall above the screen.  
“-and I think it’s about time you came to your senses. Think of the kids! Jennifer really likes Ezra. How can the two of them be close when you insist on keeping them apart?! It’s stupid! I didn’t go through all that just to be knocking on your door in the middle of the night!”  
“Go through what?” Taylor frowned, already eyeing his cell phone and wondering if he’d have to call the police on her again.  
“The pregnancy! You think that was a walk in the park?! Nine months of not controlling my body!”


	30. 2020

Ezra flinched as the cuffs of the shackles were unnecessarily tightened and the officer took hold of the back of his neck.  
“You’ll have to get used to that,” she smirked, “I hear Houston’s are tighter.”  
“Whatever,” he muttered, wincing as her grip tightened.  
They checked the shackles on his ankles before indicating for him to move.   
He was taken back out to the loading dock, and had to be helped up into the transfer van. As he took a seat on the bench his shackles were locked into place and he found he had barely any movement at all.  
This was going to be a long drive.  
The officers had further paperwork to sort once he was in, and he was given two escorts in the back (including FBI Agent Carter) before the doors finally closed. Carter had already pulled out some paperwork to do on the trip before the van pulled out of the facility.  
Through the grate that led into the front Ezra got his first sight of daylight again. He couldn’t help but wonder if it might be his last.  
“Let’s see if you’re any more talkative today than you were yesterday,” Carter spoke up after a few minutes, not bothering to look up.  
Ezra just eyed her tiredly. He still hadn’t had much sleep thanks to their interrogation methods. But he thought he’d managed to get through to them that he couldn’t help them find his Dad.  
“We want you to arrive in Houston in one piece after all,” she looked up with a smile.  
Ezra said nothing, just stared her down.  
“So,” she was unmoved, “have we jogged your memory on where your father might be?”  
“The last time I saw him I left him at the ranch,” Ezra repeated what he’d said the day before, “there’s no way for me to know where he is right now.”  
“Who did you leave him with?” Carter shrugged, “family? Friends? Give me some names.”  
“It doesn’t matter,” Ezra tried to reason, “if you haven’t found them yet, you’re not going to. They aren’t stupid.”  
“We found you,” she pointed out, making him divert his eyes, “are you trying to tell me you were just bait? To steer us away from your father?”  
“Sure, if you want to look at it like that,” he shrugged, “but I would have thought you’d have more than one patrol out there that night.”  
“Clever boy,” she condescended.  
“So how come I was the only one you picked up?” he couldn’t help but smirk.  
The officer sitting beside him pulled out her baton and he rolled his eyes again.   
“You were in Chicago with your mother and grandfather, yes?” Carter decided to let it slide, “were they with you in El Paso?”  
Ezra just sighed and hit his head back against the van.   
“Why go back to Texas after the escape unless you had your father with you?”  
“He wasn’t in the car, was he?” Ezra pointed out.  
“Neither was your mother. Is he with her?”  
Ezra didn’t respond.   
“So he is with her,” Carter mused.  
“I didn’t say that,” he said a little too quickly.


	31. 2020

“What if I made another speech?” Taylor suggested tentatively.  
“What?” Natalie said between her teeth.  
“Not like the last one,” he amended, “but something to tell everyone what happened to him. People will listen to me, I’m sure of it.”  
“Did we hear anything after the last one?” River asked from where he was pacing.  
“Everett was the only one paying attention to the media,” Penny answered, thumbing through a map book of the area on the bed.  
“Our priority should be getting the word out,” Taylor went on, “if the general public know what’s going on, they’ll be less likely to try anything.”  
“You gotta admit,” Penny looked up to her Mom, “after that video went viral not as many reports came out.”  
“What reports?” Taylor asked.  
“Of abuse in the centers,” Penny shrugged, “I think they were scared they’d be videoed too.”  
“That’s what we need,” Taylor snapped his fingers, “we don’t have to be looking over their shoulders, we just need them to think that we _might_ be.”  
Natalie was silent as she thought it over.  
“How do we do that?” River leant back against a chair.  
“We need Everett,” Penny focused on the map again.  
“It’s the best way to help Ezra right now,” Taylor had his eyes on Natalie, “and we don’t have to worry about getting too close.”  
“I don’t want to put Everett in danger,” Natalie warned, “he’s done enough for us already.”  
“He might not even be able to help,” River cautioned, “he won’t have his big computer.”  
“You need to call him back anyway,” Penny reminded them absently, “so you can find out.”  
“She’s right,” Taylor agreed.  
“We also need to get some food. River,” Natalie reached for her purse as he came to her side, “see what you can find at the gas station. Nothing too extravagant we don’t want it to look like we’re feeding four.”  
“I know, I know,” he grumbled, taking her money and heading for the door.  
“You send him out on his own often?” Taylor asked once the door had closed behind him.  
“No,” Natalie admitted, “but we’re running out of options. Penny, how are you going?”  
“Well it’s not Google Maps,” Penny sighed, “but I think I can come up with something.”  
“What have you been doing?” Taylor had thought she was just browsing.  
“Scouting possible entry points to the HDC and the President’s hotel.”


	32. 2020

The boys had had breakfast and Everett was back to tracking Ezra’s movements when the phone finally rang again. He fumbled for a moment before managing to answer.  
“He’s not there yet,” he said without bothering to hear who it was.  
“I wouldn’t think so,” Natalie checked her watch, “are you okay Everett?”  
“Yeah. Fine,” he was a little short, “you?”  
“We were wondering if you could do us a favor.”  
“Of course. It’s what I’m here for.”  
“This is a pretty big favor, and I’ll have to talk to your Mom,” Natalie warned, “but we might need you with us in Houston.”  
“Houston?” Everett stopped what he was doing, “why? What can’t I do from here?”  
“We may need you to broadcast something. Like you did for Uncle Taylor before.”  
“Are you sure?” Everett frowned, “I thought-“  
“We’re sure. Can you put your Mom on please?”  
“Okay…” he slid out from the computer chair to go and find her.  
He found her in the kitchen with Odette working on their dinner.  
“Mom?” he got her attention, “Aunt Nat wants to talk to you.”  
“I was wondering who’d be calling at this time,” Nikki wiped her hands off, “is the phone on your computer?”  
Everett nodded, wondering where Monroe was as she walked past. Odette immediately stuck her fingers in the dish and licked them clean.  
Nikki quickly found the phone.  
“Nat?”  
“Hey Nikki, we need a huge favor.”  
“Is Tay okay?” she frowned instantly.  
“He’s fine, he’s here,” Natalie looked over her shoulder to where he was sitting on the bed, “but we need Everett.”  
“You need him? What for?”  
“We need him to work a little magic for us in the vein of broadcasting another message.”  
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Nikki cautioned, “I mean I don’t know half of what Everett does but I know that if he doesn’t have the appropriate firewalls or multiple servers to bounce the signal from they’re going to find you in seconds.”  
“We’ll find whatever he needs, we’ve still got River and Penny,” Natalie assured.  
Nikki sighed to herself, before realizing Everett was behind her again.  
“Did she already ask you?”  
“Yep,” he nodded.  
“Can you do it safely?”  
Everett took a moment to think it over, thinking about what technology he had at his disposal.  
“If I take some of the drives with me and find more there, I _should_ be able to. Maybe even from a public computer. But I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t safe. Not after last time,” he insisted.  
“Look at flights to Houston,” his mother nodded toward the computer.  
Everett jumped onto the internet to quickly look them up.  
“Depending on schedules I could have him on a plane tomorrow,” she said into the phone.  
“Thank you Nikki. We’ll take good care of him I swear.”


	33. 2020

“Yes?” Pam answered the phone among the lunch rush.  
“Hi Mom,” Natalie already felt bad for not calling earlier.  
“We have some very worried people here asking after you,” her mother looked over her shoulder to the dining table, “are you okay?”  
“We’re fine, we’re still fine. But I wanted to update you on Ezra.”  
“Make it fast hon, you know this isn’t a secure line.”  
Zoe happened to look up from her plate and catch Pam’s eye. Pam gave her a nod. Kate noticed it instantly.  
“They’re transferring him to the HDC. They’re already on the road,” Natalie said quickly, “we’ve got Everett flying in tomorrow to help us. I don’t want to take Taylor into the city yet but I want to go and see Ezra tonight.”  
“That sounds dangerous,” her mother warned, making Kate get to her feet.  
Zoe reached up to stop her but quickly thought better of it.  
“I know but I just want to make sure he’s okay. Penny’s been scouting for us already and I’ll only do it if she says it’s safe.”  
“May I?” Kate held her hand out expectantly.  
Pam paused, knowing very well that her daughter wasn’t on the best of terms with her sister-in-law. At Kate’s insistence, she sighed.  
“Kate wants to talk to you,” she warned Natalie.  
“Why?” she frowned on the other end.  
“It sounds like you’re about to do something stupid again,” Kate didn’t give her a chance to explain.  
“I’m sure you wouldn’t think that if you were in my position,” Natalie scowled.  
“What exactly are you doing?”  
“Why would I tell you?!”  
Kate sighed and rolled her eyes.  
“Because maybe I’m the only person who can actually help you,” she replied, “do you want me in Houston?”  
“Of course I don’t want you in Houston, Kate. There’s going to be enough going on here without having to worry that-“  
“What? That I’m going to hand Taylor over?” Kate scorned, “I told you I came to help.”  
Taylor had looked up from where he was looking over the map with Penny at the sound of Kate’s name.  
“Look, if you’re going up against HDC security or even the President’s detail – yes, I’ve met you and I know you’re thinking about it – you’re going to need more than just the clothes on your backs.”  
“We have Everett coming to help us already,” Natalie scorned.  
“I’m sure he’ll be great in a gunfight.”  
“There will be no gunfight!”  
“If I turn up anywhere with a weapon I’m as good as dead,” Taylor warned, still only hearing Natalie’s half of the conversation, “they’ll shoot on sight.”  
“It doesn’t matter, you won’t get through anyway,” Natalie insisted, “they’re looking for Hansons. You’re still a Hanson.”  
“I’m sure I could convince them otherwise,” Kate smirked, “all I’d need to do is tell them my story and insist that I want Taylor hanged and they’ll let me walk in anywhere.”


	34. 2020

“Is this really a good idea?” Taylor wasn’t sure, “do we even know why she’s helping me?”  
“She told me,” Natalie was pacing with the phone still in her hand, “I just hope this is more to do with Ezra than it is to do with you.”  
Taylor paused at that before looking across to Penny.  
“Can you and River go get some food for us please?” he asked softly.  
“Take my purse,” Natalie went to find it before handing it to River.  
The two disappeared, Penny casting a worried glance over her shoulder as she closed the door behind them. Taylor waited until their footsteps had gone before rubbing his face.  
“What did she say to you?” he asked outright.  
“That she’s coming straight to Houston and will probably be here tomorrow,” Natalie rolled her eyes, “it’s not like I can stop her once she’s made up her mind.”  
“That’s not what I was talking about,” Taylor corrected, making her start to bite her nails.  
She shot him a glance before leaning back against the TV cabinet.  
“She said that just because she wasn’t on the ‘saving Taylor’ train it didn’t mean that Zac wouldn’t be,” she admitted, “so she’s helping us because she figures if Zac were alive, he probably would.”  
“If Zac were alive he’d more likely be in the same position that I am,” Taylor frowned.  
“Maybe she realises that,” Natalie shrugged, “maybe it’s clicked that it’s a horrible position for anyone to be in, despite the fact that it’s you in it.”  
“It doesn’t make up for what I did, by any means,” Taylor insisted, “and if she changes her mind at any time I won’t blame her at all. But I’ll appreciate any help she wants to give. God knows we need all the help we can get right now.”  
“You’re really okay with it?” Natalie was surprised, “you’re not worried she’ll turn you in?”  
“It’s been three years,” Taylor shook his head, “you’d know better than I would what she’s turned into.”  
“It’s been a long time for us too,” Natalie folded her arms.  
“Still, you would have had to deal with backlash that I just wasn’t around for.”  
“Don’t make it sound like you were just on tour or something. Don’t do that.”  
Taylor huffed a sigh before looking back to the map.  
“Maybe she can serve as a distraction if nothing else,” he changed the subject slightly.  
“How so?” Natalie frowned.  
“Well if they’re looking for Hansons, and she’s still a Hanson like you say,” he was a little surprised she hadn’t reverted back to Tucker, “if she’s spotted around the HDC they’re going to keep a closer eye on that while we stake out the Regent.”  
“The Regent?” Natalie’s brow rose.  
Taylor shrugged again.  
“We have to do it sometime,” he reasoned, “so let’s get it over with.”


	35. 2020

“Are you serious?” Zoe demanded, having pulled Kate aside, “we need to stay here and take care of the kids! Jenny’s already traumatised and neither Willa nor Viggo have really talked about what happened yet.”  
“I feel bad for them, I do,” Kate assured, “but I’ll be more help in Houston and you know it. You’ve got things under control here.”  
“But we can’t let you go alone, and I can’t leave everyone here with Pam. What if they find us?!”  
“Zoe I’m a big girl,” Kate smirked, “I can take care of myself, and I have done for a long time.”  
“I’m not saying you can’t,” Zoe corrected, “but we don’t need to lose you either.”  
“Maybe I could go with her?”  
Neither Kate nor Zoe had heard Charlotte approach, and she quickly realised. She continually didn’t think she could feel any more out of place and yet always managed to prove herself wrong.  
“I mean…” she quickly covered, “I don’t really want to leave Eden and Jorryn behind but I also feel like I should do my part and I haven’t really had the chance-“  
“Who is this?” Kate demanded of Zoe, tactlessly.  
“Sorry Kate this is Charlotte, Char, Kate,” Zoe rubbed her face as she introduced, “it’s only thanks to Char that we found Tay in the first place.”  
Kate looked her up and down. Charlotte immediately regretted making the offer at all.  
“You were in the program,” Kate had put two and two together already.  
“It doesn’t matter,” Zoe insisted.  
“Let me guess. You fucked him, you used him, he gave you a sob story and you just ‘had to’ get help because he wasn’t like the others?”  
“Kate!” Zoe scorned, “it doesn’t matter!”  
“It does matter,” Kate’s eyes flashed as Charlotte’s face went bright red, “why should we trust her?”  
“Taylor wants her here, that's more than enough for us," Zoe scorned, "why should we trust you? You show up one day out of the blue after not talking to us for _years_ , and expect us to think you actually want to help Taylor? You hated him! You hated him because he came back and Zac didn’t!”  
Charlotte took a step back, worried that they were going to start swinging.  
“You think this is jealousy?” Kate frowned.  
“What else could it be?!”  
Kate was about to reply, but even in the heat of the moment managed to stop herself. She checked over her shoulder. They’d already drawn an obvious small audience of three as careful as they were trying to hide themselves.  
“And that’s fine,” Zoe went on, “we all dealt with it and we’re moving on. But we have a job to do here. If you’re not on board with Operation Liberty then maybe you should leave altogether.”  
“I’m sorry to burst your bubble but this is not about jealousy, and it never has been,” Kate’s voice lowered.  
“What?”  
“But if you want to know what really happened you’ll have to ask your brother,” Kate turned and pushed past Charlotte, “Shepherd?!”  
Having been one of the three sets of eyes at the corner, he quickly shoved the other two kids back behind him.  
“Yes Mom?”  
“I’m going to Houston if you want to come too. You have an hour to decide. Where’s your sister?”


	36. 2020

The four Hansons in Houston were having an early dinner of roadside eats when Natalie’s new phone rang. With only a few people having the number she was sure to answer quickly.  
“Yes?”  
“Nat, hi. It’s Joe.”  
“Joe,” she breathed a sigh of relief, running her fingers through her hair, “how are you? How’s Jess?”  
“We’re okay, Jess and Hans are here,” he replied as Taylor looked up, “Mom and Dad just went for food.”  
“Are they staying with you?” Natalie frowned.  
“No they’re just checking in on us now and then,” Joe assured, “hey can I talk to Tay for a second?”  
“Sure,” she was a little confused but turned to him regardless, “Joe wants a word.”  
Taylor finished what he’d been eating and wiped his hands off before reaching for the phone. Penny and River were watching the exchange in silence.  
“Joe?” he decided to take it into the bathroom just in case.  
Knowing what he was doing Natalie instructed River to turn the television up. The evening news was about to start and none of them were looking forward to it.  
“Hey Tay… sorry, Jordan,” Joe corrected himself, “how are you? Are you doing okay?”  
“I’m doing as well as I can be I’m sure, what about you?” Taylor brushed over.  
“Honestly? Not great,” he admitted, “I mean I thought once I left Sonic even if we had to hide that I’d at least see a tiny bit of freedom, but I guess I just downsized from the ranch to a motel room.”  
“I guess I kind of know the feeling,” Taylor looked around the bathroom.  
“I was hoping so. I thought I’d gotten used to not being able to go out and help on the missions but having to wait here with Hans while Jess is off risking her life for Avie… it’s different.”  
“Everything’s different,” Taylor closed the door behind him and leant back against it.  
He sighed.  
“Any word on Avery?”  
“Sorry. Last I heard they still weren’t letting Jess see her. I don’t think your parents have had much luck either.”  
“Joe you could have told Nat all this, why did you ask for me?”  
There was a pause on the line and he heard Joe sigh a little.  
“I don’t know, I guess I just missed hearing it.”  
“Hearing what?” Taylor was confused.  
“Your voice. A guy’s voice, even. Sorry I know this is awkward as hell but I-“  
“That’s okay, I get it,” Taylor mused, “I was just worried it might be something more.”  
“Not for today but maybe tomorrow.”  
“Thanks for that,” Taylor smirked.  
“A day of reprieve is rare these days Jay, take it while you’ve got it.”


	37. 2020

Penny adjusted the binoculars before taking another look, wishing she’d had the forethought to bring night vision goggles from the ranch. The transfer van hadn’t arrived yet but they knew it could at any moment.  
“Anything?” River asked, returning to his crouch next to her after checking another entrance.  
“Nope,” Penny adjusted them again, “but if they stopped along the way for food and rest it could be anywhere between now and midnight.”  
River pulled a face at the thought of staying out here any longer than necessary.  
“Wait,” Penny suddenly straightened, “there’s a van.”  
She watched as the dark van pulled up to the wire gates. A night guard waved them through and after the gates shut the van turned to reverse close to the building.  
“Let me see,” River reached for the binoculars, but Penny refused to relinquish them.  
It felt like forever before the doors finally opened and a woman in a suit stepped out looking dishevelled. With her arms outstretched she helped Ezra out and to the ground. Penny couldn’t help but gulp a little at the sight of him.  
“Let me see!”  
“Wait!” she insisted, adjusting the binoculars again.  
Despite it being dark she could still see the bruises. She watched as they waited for a second woman to join them from the back before leading him toward the doors of the center.  
“He’s fine,” Penny insisted, a moment before River snatched the binoculars anyway.  
He managed to catch sight of Ezra just before he disappeared. Their brother hadn’t bothered to even look back and the doors soon closed behind him.  
“At least we know for sure that he’s here now,” Penny sighed to herself.  
“Yeah but for how long?” River was obviously worried.  
“I’m sure Everett can tell us that tomorrow. We should get back.”  
Really not wanting to leave but knowing that he had to, River pulled himself to his feet and followed his sister out of their hiding place.   
“So how come you’re being kinda weird about this whole thing?” he asked once they’d made it back to the street.  
“What do you mean?” Penny frowned, keeping her eyes down.  
“Whenever Ezra’s name comes up you just get weird. Like you go all silent and don’t want to talk about it.”  
“There’s not much to talk about,” Penny defended, “we just have to get him back.”  
“Do you even want him back?”  
Penny chewed on her lip. She knew she hadn’t been giving off the best vibes, but she’d been hoping to mask them under her parents’ moods. The last thing they needed was a distracted River.  
“Of course I do,” she quickly recovered, “I think I’m just worried because he and Dad didn’t split on the best of terms is all.”  
It wasn’t a total lie. She was concentrating on River’s reaction so hard that when he stopped in his tracks the action alone set her nerves on edge.  
“What?” she asked, before jumping when she realised why.  
A tall and lanky teenager stood over the both of them. About Ezra’s height and possibly the same age. He was dressed in all black and the smirk on his face was anything but comforting.  
“Hello pretty girl,” a seedy voice taunted, “what are you doing out here all alone?”


	38. 2020

“This will be your holding cell, at least for the time being,” Carter held the door open for him, “if you’re lucky you might even get the chains off tonight.”  
Ezra stopped to look back down the corridor. He’d seen eyes in the other cells but he already wasn’t sure how many. They’d ventured deep into holding and he suspected that he was already among the local deserters.  
“Take your time,” Carter rolled her eyes, tired herself from the road.  
“This is where it happens?” Ezra frowned.  
He was surprised by how bright and colourful the halls were. He’d expected dark and dreary. This was supposed to be a place of horror, yet somehow the brightness made it even more unsettling.  
“This is where the magic happens, yes. Through that door anyway,” Carter indicated a heavy door at the end of a double corridor, “but I doubt you’ll be seeing anything outside your cell for at least a couple of days. They have tests to run.”  
“But that doesn’t stop anyone coming in.”  
Carter looked across to where Page and a guard were waiting patiently.   
“You’re catching on quickly,” she smirked, “of course, there’s always a way to take care of that for you.”  
“What part of ‘I don’t know’ don’t you understand?!” Ezra exclaimed, his panic coming to the surface, “I can’t pull information out of thin air! They could be anywhere by now, I can’t work magic!”  
“You’ll work magic alright,” Page assured him, “when it’s your turn to.”  
“Fuck you,” Ezra spat, prompting Carter to shove him into the cell.  
“The doctor will see you first thing in the morning,” she said before closing the door on him.  
He heard the deadbolts closing and realised they weren’t taking the chains off. With a grimace he looked around the cell for the first time.  
There wasn’t much to see, but he’d expected it all the same. The walls were a light grey with different shades of green paint here and there, the bed was sheetless, and there was no window to the outside.   
He was already wondering how anyone could spend longer than a few days in one of these without going stir crazy. But he also knew that he was likely to find out.  
He had no idea if anyone even knew where he was. They might have guessed, but there was no guarantee. Even if they knew that he was in Houston he doubted they could do much about it. Being able to rescue his father had been 90% pure luck.  
With a sigh he sat on the bed and resisted the urge to look up at the door. He didn’t want to waste the only view he had on the first night.


	39. 2020

“Are you sure you have everything?”  
“Yes, Mom.”  
“What about snacks? Did you want something for the plane?”  
“Grandma gave me money already.”  
“Do you need more?”  
“Mom, I’m fine,” Everett insisted as he adjusted the straps on his backpack, “it’s only two and a half hours, I’ve gone without food for longer.”  
Nikki stopped to take a deep breath. She knew she just looked and sounded like another nervous parent with their child flying for the first time, but it wasn’t Everett’s first time by far and she couldn’t help but cast worried glances toward security.  
“I can go now,” he pulled her attention back.  
“There’s still plenty of time. I should come through security with you. They’re going to want to check all your electronics.”  
“Mom, I know,” Everett broke into a nervous chuckle, “it’s not my first rodeo. I can do this.”  
Nikki leant over to give him a hug.  
“I’m just worried.”  
“I know.”  
“I’ll stay here until your plane leaves. Call me as soon as you land.”  
“I will.”  
“And good luck,” she whispered into his ear before letting go.  
He planted a kiss on her cheek which she returned before he began to head for the TSA checkpoint. The women in charge right away began gushing over his long blond hair, and when they asked after his mother he turned to wave to Nikki. Once she waved back and the women could confirm he wasn’t just an orphan traveller they escorted him through without any hassle.  
Everett went straight to his gate and took a seat by the window to wait for the flight to be called. A sketchpad kept him entertained in the meantime. He hadn’t had much time to draw lately so it was the perfect time to get back to it. He made it onto the flight without hassle and once the hostesses realised he was by himself they looked after him extra carefully. He hated the attention.  
After landing in Houston he got frustrated very quickly with how slow everyone was to disembark. He knew someone would be waiting to pick him up and he wanted to see his cousins again. But as he headed toward the luggage carousel he felt a hand on his shoulder and froze.  
“You got any ID on you, son?”  
“I’m thirteen,” he frowned, looking up at the burly woman.  
It was a security guard. She didn’t look at all friendly.  
“What about your ticket young man?”  
Everett pulled a face but set his backpack down to fish for it. Once he handed it over he felt his nerves grow when he saw her check it against a list on her palm pilot.  
“What are you doing?” he hoped to throw her off a bit.  
“We’re checking everyone landing in Houston just in case some bad people want to hurt the president,” she spoke condescendingly, “I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”  
“Why would anyone want to hurt the president?” he turned on the most innocent tone he could.  
“That’s nothing to worry your little head about.”


End file.
